Railroad camps

[Shanghai McCoy]

Anyone know of any good research material I could use in locating
railroad construction camps from 1800-1865? I'm looking in NW Florida
and SW Alabama. I've got plenty of railroad maps from the Library of
Congress and other sources, but none that locate the camps. Would they
generally be located 2-3 miles apart? TIA.

[Shanghai McCoy]

Sir F. A. Rien wrote:
> Shanghai McCoy <Shangh...@notscape.not> found these unused words:

> I'll not be able to comment specifically about your area, but camps were of
> a very transient nature and by nnow would have had the ground reused or
> otherwise 'modified' again, except in places where the tracks of man remain
> hundreds of years - the desert.
>
> Spacing of camps would be of need, not general distance. The work train
> would carry crews to EOT and they would push forward usually in three steps,
>
> Graders might be well ahead and making small nightly camps, except for major
> cuts or fills. Tie layers woud wagon out from EOT, and the rails would
> follow.
>
> The T&T had a major camp at Sperry wash, which lasted until the road reached
> Tecopa, about 12 miles. The next camp was at Zabriskie, about 7 miles
> further on - and that lasted untill Shoshone was reached.
>
> It's more a situation of how much needs to be done in that area and how much
> 'bother' moving camp is, with respect to transporting the crews and
> materials to EOT from the camp.
>

Thanks for your insight. Much of the land where this particular RR
(Pensacola & Mobile) is located is swamp, so I guess the going would
have been quite slow. The RR was only in existence a few years before
the Confederates tore it up. Thanks again!

[Everett M. Greene]

> The graders then, would have worked far in advance of the ties and rails.
> Probably working from several set 'start' points simultaneously. The T&T did
> this in the Amargosa Canyon, working from Sperry, Tecopa and mid point.

Speaking of grading, did they bother to compact the fills
in days of yore or did they pile the dirt and let nature
take its course? Normal foot and animal traffic on the
fill as it's being placeded will compact it to a fair
degree but I've never seen pictures of anything that
resembles a horse-drawn compacter/roller/etc.

[Everett M. Greene]

From: Sir F. A. Rien <jaS...@gbr.online.com>

moj...@iwvisp.com (Everett M. Greene) wrote:
>Sir F. A. Rien <jaS...@gbr.online.com> writes:

> [snip]

> >> The graders then, would have worked far in advance of the ties and rails.
> >> Probably working from several set 'start' points simultaneously. The T&T did
> >> this in the Amargosa Canyon, working from Sperry, Tecopa and mid point.
> >
> >Speaking of grading, did they bother to compact the fills
> >in days of yore or did they pile the dirt and let nature
> >take its course? Normal foot and animal traffic on the
> >fill as it's being placeded will compact it to a fair
> >degree but I've never seen pictures of anything that
> >resembles a horse-drawn compacter/roller/etc.
>

> I don't know ...
>
> The T&T had several huge fills, some nearly 100' high and they're still
> there except where the Amargosa River [or other water courses] altered
> course and slowly ate away the base causing collapse. Most were overcoated
> with the detrus of the borate mining, that forms a fairly hard coating,
> though it will dissolve in heavy rain.
>
> All the fills [except those done to 'fill' trestles] on the DVRR were rock
> faced - quite beautiful looking.

Mr. Sir Rien,

I was going to contact you directly regarding some questions
about DV railroads but j...@gbr.com doesn't work.